Sunday, September 28, 2008

Blood Slut

Broken Talent were kind of like Miami's Flipper. They were noisy, abrasive, and were the non-conformists in a punk scene that prided itself on its non-conformity. They were hated, often booed off the stage, they looked like burnouts, and they were my favorite band growing up, hands down. Broken Talent and T.P.O.S. (bassist Malcolm Tent's label) really created a parallel punk scene in Miami. T.P.O.S. released many great tape comps with some very strange and incredible music. They had their own aesthetic with Broken Talent's frontman, Santo providing his twisted Ralph Steadman-meets-Nick Blinko-drawings. They set up shows and did fanzines and comics. They didn't wait for people to come to them, they made their own scene. To me, at 14, they were more than a band, they were like mentors. I took every opportunity to pick their brains and they were always ready to talk to me about whatever, even though I was a pushy, overbearing, hyperactive kid. It was the band's bassist Malcolm Tent who would turn me on to Hellhammer's Apocalyptic Raids album. They decried racism, organized religion, and society with snarky humor and intelligence rarely seen in a politically-minded punk band.

In 1984 they released the Blood Slut EP on T.P.O.S. Now this thing is a holy grail for punk record collectors but at the time nobody fucking cared except a handful of friends and followers in South Florida. On the title track Santo sings about a woman of loose morals, plasma donation, and the beauty of sex. "My Old Man" has Malcolm singing about his father: "My old man is really mellow/he watches C.H.I.Ps with Poncharello," and the lyric, "He feeds the plant lethal yellow," that means urine if you didn't know. This reference inspired another Miami punk band to name themselves Lethal Yellow. "My God Can Beat Up Your God," some of you might know, it was covered by Antiseen. I still get a kick out of this little record . Now I'd like to share it with you. Thanks to Hodapp for the cover scan.

I've been to that store a few times, that was a great place! Picked up my first Discharge album there. Always a crying shame to see a great indie record store shut down. I still have Vintage Vinyl in NJ and Generation Records in NYC at least.

Hey Aesop if you're up for taking some recommendations, I would LOVE to see a post about the first self-titled album from Belgium group Acid. Its damn near impossible to find these days for a reasonable price and I've wanted to hear it for a long time now.

I just ran into Malcolm, who blushed when I told him I had found this record on here. He also told me a funny story about Aesop as a twelve year old, purchasing this record with his mother's $2 check that Malcolm couldn't cash without a bank account.

By the way, he spoke highly of the Lethal Yellow demos too. If you have those, I'd love to hear them.

Malcolm is not a fan of blogs per say, but I think that I coerced him into checking this one out.

i actually saw broken talent in pittsburgh on 4-28-87 with Th'Inbred, Ninety Nine Cents, and the hc band i was in the screaming mailboxes of destiny. it was at the electric banana. they were cool! love your site! Jim

Yes, BT were really the only band from our scene to tour outside of Florida. I saw Th' Inbred in South Florida,. They were broke and desperate and selling off their gear. They rocked like only hungry men can do.

hey-i misspoke the Broken Talent gig i saw was in 85. Anyway i just got off the phone with Bob, th'inbred's singer to ask if they sold any equipment and he said they didn't. He said it was two days in a row they didn't get their guarantee so they were pretty angry.

What it's about.

It's about sharing hard to find and special recordings. It's not about taking anything away from the artists themselves. Of course if something is in print and you like it, buy it. If you have legitimate claim to something posted here and want it removed, just write me and I'll do so. It's definitely not about furthering any sort of political agenda, you might find some things here that you don't agree with. The views of the bands are their own and don't necessarily reflect my ideology or political views. Of course comments and suggestions are welcomed, but don't be hurt if they aren't responded to or taken. I will do my absolute best to be accomidating. Want to contact me? Do it here:

aesopdekker@yahoo.com

please put "cosmic hearse" in the subject heading.The main thing to remember is to enjoy the music and share the site with friends. Thanks for riding in the Cosmic Hearse.---Aesop